In what became a packed courtroom, U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston sentenced two of Stanford’s former financial executives to 20 years each behind bars.

Dressed in green prison garb, former accounting chief Gilbert Lopez and former global controller Mark Kuhrt were sentenced separately and then led away in handcuffs.

The men were convicted in November on multiple criminal charges for their roles in the multinational, multibillion-dollar fraud that cheated an estimated 28,000 investors with worthless certificates of deposit.

In both cases, the government sought 25-year prison terms.

Neither defendant spoke at the hearing.

Prosecutors said evidence showed Lopez and Kuhrt were actively involved in hiding the fraudulent use of assets from Stanford International Bank.

“They also helped Stanford falsely represent to SIB customers during the economic crash in late 2008 that Stanford had infused hundreds of millions of dollars into SIB when he had not,” the government said in a summary.

“As part of that effort, Lopez and Kuhrt helped design a fraudulent real estate transaction that involved falsely inflating parcels of land purchased at $63.5 million to a purported value of $3.2 billion.”

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Defense attorney Jack Zimmermann sought a three-year sentence for Lopez, citing his age, 70; his position “down the chain”; and his expressed remorse for the investors who lost money and the Stanford employees who lost their jobs.

Defense attorneys made multiple mentions of more senior Stanford officials who received lesser prison sentences.

Ex-chief financial officer James Davis, described by Zimmermann as “the driver of the financial fraud,” received five years in prison.

“It would be a travesty if (Lopez) is sentenced to five times what the court sentenced James Davis,” he said.

The government countered that the defendants lied, had direct knowledge of the fraud and worked for years to cover it up.

Hittner found that both defendants had committed perjury at trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Goldberg pounced on claims the accountants were conned by others. He said a stiff sentence would send a message.

“No corporate officer in this country should be allowed to commit fraud with their boss and when they get caught claim they were innocent because they were just following orders,” Goldberg said. “They must have the courage to say, ‘I don’t want to be a part of this.’.”

Hittner added three years of probation to Lopez’s and Kuhrt’s 20-year sentences.

Lopez, who also was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine, looked down when the decision was announced.

After a short break, Kuhrt arrived in court. His lawyer, Richard Kuniansky, cited more than 50 letters that had been submitted attesting to his client’s character.

“Enough could not be said good about him,” Kuniansky said of Kuhrt, a 40-year-old father who is married to his high school sweetheart.

In a bit of courtroom theater, Kuniansky asked everyone in courtroom there in support of Kuhrt to stand. More than 20 did so.

Kuniansky sought a sentence of no more than five years.

Goldberg responded in part that those who wrote the letters did not have all the facts.

As the sentence was announced, Kuhrt also looked down, resting his head on his hands.

Pending appeals, the sentences marked an end to the cases against top Stanford officials.

Charges against a sixth defendant, Antiguan regulator Leroy King, remain on hold as he fights extradition to the U.S. to stand trial.

Last month, Hittner ordered Davis, who testified against Stanford, his former college roommate, to federal prison for five years.

In September, former chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt received a three-year term in a plea-bargain agreement after admitting to obstructing the government investigation that brought down the global investment empire.

Pendergest-Holt pleaded guilty in June, just one week after Hittner sentenced Stanford to 110 years, all but certain to be a life sentence.

The government values the global Stanford fraud at $5.9 billion in worthless certificates of deposit issued by Stanford International Bank in the Caribbean nation of Antigua, plus $1.3 billion in fictitious interest.